1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an editing apparatus for use in an editing a video signal, for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,348 describes an editing apparatus. Also, there is proposed an editing apparatus which will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, this conventional editing apparatus is comprised of VTRs (video tape recorders) 2, 3, an editor 1 for previously fine adjusting and controlling the VTRS 2, 3 and a VTR 6 for recording video signals from the VTRs 2, 3 in various manners before editing, a switcher 4 for selecting the video signals supplied thereto from the VTRs 2, 3, a DME (digital multi-effector) 5 for effecting various video special effects on the video signal supplied thereto from the switcher 4 and supplying the thus processed video signal back to the switcher 4 and the VTR 6 for recording the video signal from the switcher 4.
A fundamental processing of the conventional editing apparatus thus arranged as shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. The user can select where to use a material recorded on a video tape cassette set on the VTR 2 and a material recorded on a video tape cassette set on the VTR 3 or how to use the material of the video tape cassette set on the VTR 2 or the material of the video cassette tape on the VTR 3 while checking a menu picture displayed on a picture screen of a monitor 1A of the editor 1. The material of the VTR 2 will be referred hereinafter to as "roll A", and that of the VTR 3 will be referred hereinafter to as "roll B", respectively.
Further, the user can designate where to use the material of the roll A and the material of the roll B by inputting time codes or by designating time codes supplied thereto from the VTR 2 or 3 upon playback as an in-point IN and an out-point OUT when the user carries out a suitable operation, such as a depression of a switch or the like. The in-point IN represents a time code of the first the image of the material to be used, and the out-point OUT represents a time code of the last image of the material to be used.
The switcher 4 processes the video signals supplied thereto from the VTRs 2 and 3 in some suitable transition processing fashion, such as wipe, dissolve, etc. Further, the DME 5 (or switcher 4) effects some suitable processing, such as a designation of a processing on a time base, which will be referred to as a time line, or the like on the video signals supplied thereto, whereafter the video signal thus processed is recorded on the VTR 6 or previewed (i.e . . . , video signal thus processed is reproduced without being recorded).
The time line is used to obtain a video signal effect by designating some video special effect elements, such as a trajectory for drawing a curve on an image, a twist of an image or the like.
Operation of the editing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A through 2G. In this description of operation, let us assume that the switcher 4 processes a material Va recorded on the video tape cassette set on the VTR 2 and a material Vb recorded on the video tape cassette set on the VTR 3 in a transition processing fashion to output one video signal and that this outputted video signal is recorded by the VTR 6 or displayed on the monitor 1A of the editor 1.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, of the material of the video tape cassette set on the VTR 2 shown in FIG. 1, the user can designate the material Va by designating the in-point IN and the out-point OUT. On the other hand, of the material of the video tape cassette set on the VTR 3 shown in FIG. 1, the user can also designate the material Vb by designating the in-point IN and the out-point OUT.
Under the control of the editor 1, the VTR 2 is set in the playback mode so that the material Va is supplied to the switcher 4 and processed by the DME 5 variously. Then, the video signal thus processed is supplied to and recorded by the VTR 6 or displayed on the picture screen of the monitor 1A of the editor 1 as an image. While constantly monitoring the time codes from the VTR 2, the editor 1 reads a time code provided a little before the time code of the out-point OUT of the material Va and causes the VTR 3 to operate in the playback mode. The material Vb from the VTR 3 is supplied to the switcher 4.
The switcher 4 switches the materials Va, Vb on the basis of a previously-set transition and supplies the material Vb to the DME 5. The material Vb supplied to the DME 5 is processed by the DME 5 in various processing manners and then fed back to the switcher 4. The switcher 4 supplies the material Vb supplied thereto from the DME 5 to the VTR 6. The material Vb supplied to the VTR 6 is recorded by the VTR 6.
For simplicity, various processing manners that can be considered when two materials are collected as one material by a transition processing, reviewed or recorded, such as pre-roll, post-roll, reading of time code, to generate time codes by the editor 1 or the like, need not be described herein and a processing based on the simplest manner will be described hereinafter.
Since the processing is made as described above, the material Va supplied from the VTR 2 is recorded on a magnetic tape along a time base in the video cassette tape set on the VTR 6 as shown in FIG. 2C, and then the material Vb supplied from the VTR 3 is recorded thereon. Therefore, in the preview mode, similarly to the reproduced signal which is played back from this magnetic tape, the material Va is displayed on the picture screen of the monitor 1A of the editor 1 and changed into the material Vb in the form of a designated transition, whereafter the material Vb is displayed on the picture screen of the monitor 1A of the editor 1.
When the materials Va and Vb are both recorded on the video tape cassette set on the VTR 2 as shown in FIG. 2D, the material Vb (or Va) is reproduced by the VTR 2 and recorded on the video tape cassette set on the VTR 3. Then, as shown in FIGS. 2E and 2F, the material Va is reproduced by the VTR 2 in a similar processing fashion, and then the material Vb (previously dubbed from the VTR 3) is reproduced by the VTR 3. These materials Va, Vb are recorded by the VTR 6.
Thus, the material Va supplied from the VTR 2 is recorded along a time axis on a magnetic tape of the video tape cassette set on the VTR 6 and then the material Vb supplied from the VTR 3 is recorded thereon as shown in FIG. 2G. Accordingly, during the preview mode, similarly to the reproduced signal obtained by reproducing this magnetic tape, the material Va is displayed on the picture screen of the monitor 1A of the editor 1 and changed into the material Vb in the form of the designated transition, whereafter the material Vb is displayed on the picture screen of the monitor 1A of the editor 1.
According to the above-mentioned conventional editing apparatus, when the user wants to confirm the whole edit processing along the time axis while any edit processing is carried out, the user must watch time codes of respective materials to be edited or the user must make a note of each edit processing. There is then the disadvantage that the edit processing cannot be controlled satisfactorily along the time axis.